The agricultural and forest products of British West Africa

by Gerald C. Dudgeon

Other Timber-trees.—The “Odum” tree (Chlorophora excelsa) produces a hard and useful wood, which is much used in the forest region, but is not often shipped ([Fig. 19]). In the dry country of the Northern Territories Pseudocedrela Kotschyi may be found of value as a red wood for decorative purposes.

Among the other trees which show evidence of yielding hard and useful woods are “Ahedua” (Cyanothyrsus sp.), “Opapeh” (Afzelia africana), and “Bako” (Mimusops sp.). Information about the working-quality and suitability for export of these and other Gold Coast timbers is given in the Bulletin of the Imperial Institute, vol. viii., 1910. p. 232.

The largest, and consequently the most valuable, trees belonging to the different species mentioned, are found in the western part of the Gold Coast and Ashanti, and most of the mahogany logs are shipped from Sekondi, Axim, and other places farther to the westward. The Pra and Ankobra rivers are utilised to float down the squared logs, which are then moored at the river mouths, to await shipment. The export of logs is only limited by the facilities with which they can be brought to a river or the railway, and large, valuable trees are plentiful in many of the forests, although they would be unprofitable to fell and trim in some cases, owing to their remote situations and the difficulties connected with conveyance.

KOLA.—Kola-nut is the name usually applied to the fruit of a tree belonging to the Natural Order Sterculiaceæ, and the wild as well as the cultivated forms found in the Gold Coast and Ashanti are, probably, all referable to the species Kola acuminata, R. The fruits or nuts are borne in large pods, each of which contains a variable number. The nuts themselves are irregular in form, and have an inconstant number of cotyledons, or seed divisions, varying from two to five. Some confusion seems to have been caused owing to this variation, as well as on account of the colour and shape of the nuts. In some trees they are red, in others white, and others again pink, and they may be elongate or nearly round. These, however, are not reliable as distinguishing characters, since nuts of the three colours have been found on the same tree, and even in the same pod. Analyses and commercial valuations of several varieties of kola nuts from the Gold Coast are published in Selected Reports from the Imperial Institute, Part III., “Foodstuffs” (Colonial Reports, Misc., Cd. 5137, 1910), pp. 259-61; vide also Bull. Imp. Inst., vols. x. (1912) and xvii. (1919).

In the forests to the north of Kumassi large wild kola trees are found, and the nuts are collected by the natives inhabiting the villages in the vicinity, where they are sold at from 6d. to 9d. a hundred. In other places the trees are planted, commonly on the outskirts of villages, especially in Akim and Kwahu.

Kola nuts are used in tropical Africa in the same manner as betel nuts are in Asia. Their taste is somewhat bitter, and the mastication of fresh nuts seems to increase the flow of saliva. Chewing kola nuts is resorted to by the natives in order to allay thirst, or even hunger, and for this reason they are in great demand among the inhabitants of the Sudan, to which country they are largely exported, being carried by men and donkeys in caravans, which travel from the forest limits of Ashanti through the Northern Territories. The donkeys, which are chiefly used to transport the nuts, do not generally enter the forests, but the kola nuts are packed in elongated head-loads, in bamboo or palm-stalk frames, in which form they are carried to the place where the donkeys have been left. The caravans bring shea-butter, guinea corn, cattle, and skins, which they exchange for kola.

The weight of nuts exported from the Gold Coast is about 50 per cent. above that of Sierra Leone, but, in value, the latter are worth from three to five times as much per ton. The fresh nuts are shipped to Lagos and are transported far into the interior by Haussa traders.

COTTON.—No record is available to show when the tribes of the forest country commenced to cultivate and use cotton for local requirements. It has been stated that the people of the kingdoms of the Western Sudan were acquainted with the uses of the fibre, and have cultivated the plant, from a remote period, and it is probable that contact with these people, during their expeditions against the tribes to their south, led to the adoption by the latter of cotton-growing upon the small scale in which it still remains at present. Cruickshank, writing of the Fantis in 1853, says: “They spin the thread from the cotton which grows in the country, but they more commonly make use of the thread out of English cloths, which they pick to pieces.” In speaking of the Appolonians, a tribe inhabiting the coast region near Axim, Cruickshank remarks that they “make fine grass cloths, which are strong and durable.” In Ashanti, until recently, a cloth was commonly made from the inner bark of a tree, generally supposed to be Antiaris toxicaria var. africana, which was produced by the removal of the woody portions by beating, leaving a pliable material composed of the interlacing fibres. These instances are cited to show that the value of cotton for cultivation has not been recognised by some of the large and dominant tribes in comparatively recent times. Since cotton clothing has begun to be appreciated, the necessity of growing the plant and weaving has been somewhat checked by the large imports of finished material from Europe.

Throughout the forest region occasional plants of cotton may be seen growing near villages, but the systematic cultivation of the plant is only met with on the outer northern boundary of the dense forest and in the Krepi country to the east of the Volta river. The inhabitants of the northern forest boundary are a mixed people, many of whom have probably been driven from the countries farther north, where cotton is a recognised field crop, whence they have introduced the cultivation. The adoption of cotton-growing by the Krepi tribes may be due to similar reasons, although there appears to be no evidence in support of this conjecture.

In the last-named places the seed is sown in rows on the tops of ridges, on the sides of which maize plants may be also grown, but it is not uncommon to find cotton plants growing alone. This is especially the case on the northern limits of Ashanti. The large varieties grown in these places are often left in the ground for a second season and produce two crops, the last of which is said to be inferior. No system of rotation has been observed, although it is probable that the cotton is planted during the early years of cultivation immediately following the yam crop, which is the practice in some other West African countries.